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I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. There was a loud noise coming from just west of us and I dragged Cian behind a tree and squatted down, bringing him with me.
Penelope and her partner, who appeared to be limping, were about a hundred feet away. Her partner stopped and leaned against a tree, while Penelope stood with her hands on her hips, barking at her.
“Penelope,” I whispered and glared in her direction.
“I’m familiar. She came to my room last night,” Cian whispered close to my ear.
My nostrils flared, and I clenched my teeth.Not my business. Don’t you dare say anything. “I see.” There was a burning sensation in my stomach, and I suddenly had the urge to hit her over the head with a rock.
“I didn’t fuck her, Nova.” Cian’s voice was low, his breath warm against my ear, and goosebumps ran up my arm. “I made her leave.”
I breathed through my nose and counted to five in my head. There was no reason to let this get to me. So what if she’d gone to his room? That had nothing to do with me. Although I’d overheard her at tea talking about how she could get any man she wanted with just a bat of her eyelashes. Hmph. Joke was on her.
No, it didn’t bother me she had tried to go to his room. It bothered me she was full of herself. That she liked to cheat people. Well, she wasn’t going to cheat this time. Not on my watch.
“We need to make a run for it.” I turned towards Cian. “The clock is just up that hill. They’ll never make it before us with her partner limping.” The rules had been clear when I read them this morning. In order to win, you and your partner both had to be at the finish line at the same time.
Cian had a gleam in his eye and nodded. “OK. Let’s do it.”
I peeked around the tree. They still hadn’t seen us, which was going to work in our favor.
Cian grabbed onto my hand and took off like a bat out of hell. I knew the second they saw us, because Penelope screamed at the top of her lungs, which only made me pump my legs faster. My calves burned like I had never experienced before, but I didn’t stop until we reached the top and saw the clock tower with four golf carts parked next to it.
We walked around it looking for the velvet bag. My eyes were frantic, my heart pounding from the adrenaline. Where was it? My hands grazed over the bricks, looking for any clue where the bag was hidden.
“Up top.” Cian pointed.
Without saying a word, I held my arms out, and he lifted me up onto his shoulders. It was barely out of reach, just three inches from the tips of my fingers, when something swooshed by my head. Cian turned us toward Penelope as she approached, her partner limping behind her. Had that bitch just thrown a rock at me?
“Hey!” Cian held on to me tighter as I wobbled.
“Relax, crybaby, I was aiming for the clue.” She smirked as she approached the clock tower.
I gritted my teeth.Crybaby? I’ll show her a frickin’ crybaby.“Lift me up higher.”
Cian grabbed onto my calves and pushed me up, and I knocked the bag down. I scrambled out of his grasp and snatched the bag before she could grab it. Not that she didn’t try. She would have to snatch it out of my cold, dead fingers at this point. I pulled the clue out.
If you turned back time you would see
The winning piece inside you, you have the key
It outlasts all, and can be given to one or more
Above all else, it’s true to the core.
I can make you happy, I can make you cry
Without me, you’ll most likely die.
Treasure me the most and I’ll do you kind
We’re in this together, it’s me I hope you find.
Drive the path until you reach the black gate.
Enter the code, it is in fact your fate.
“Let me see that, you cheater.” Penelope snatched the note from my hand. I opened my mouth, but Cian tugged me closer to him. “What is it? Annie, get over here. What’s the answer, smartypants?”
